Once back at the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency and Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors, they tried to get back to work, but it was hard, and eventually Mma Ramotswe simply brought forward the tea-break so that they could all calm down and get back to normal.

“One thing I cannot work out,” she said, looking at Charlie, “is why Chobie suddenly changed his story. Why would he decide to take the blame?”

“Because he did it,” blurted out Mma Makutsi. “He said he was guilty, and he was.”

“But he had been planning to try to shift everything on to Fanwell,” said Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni. “And then it all changed.”

Mma Ramotswe was still staring at Charlie. “I wonder whether he was frightened of something,” she mused. “What do you think, Charlie?”

Charlie shrugged. “I don’t know.”

She watched him. There was the slightest hint of a smile playing about his lips. Of course he knew. Of course he did.

“I think that he might have been frightened of you, Charlie. I don’t know why I think that, but I think that’s what happened.”

Charlie was now clearly struggling not to laugh.

“It’s not funny, Charlie,” reprimanded Mma Makutsi.

Suddenly Charlie put down his mug of tea and pulled a piece of paper out of the pocket of his overalls. Now smiling broadly, he passed the paper to Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni.

“What’s this, Charlie?”

“It’s a newspaper cutting, Rra. Or rather it’s a piece of paper that I had somebody make up as a newspaper cutting. You know that printing place at Riverwalk? I have a friend there who can print anything from his computer. Driving licence? No problem. Birth certificate? No problem too. And in this case, an article from a newspaper over in Johannesburg.”

Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, who used reading glasses, took these out of his pocket and unfolded the piece of paper and read out loud. “ ‘Police search for dangerous hit-woman. The public is warned that the convicted murderess, Bella Dlamini, is on the loose and may be looking for further contracts. This woman is dangerous and has been known to carry out contract killings for as little as one thousand rand.’ ” He looked up from the paper. “What is all this, Charlie?” He looked down again. “And this …” He stopped, and held up the paper. “My goodness, this Bella Dlamini looks exactly like you, Mma Ramotswe.”

Charlie let out a hoot of laughter. “But it is Mma Ramotswe. It’s her photograph.”

“Why have you made that rubbish?” asked Mma Makutsi. “This is not funny, Charlie.”

Mma Ramotswe, though, was looking at Charlie through narrowed eyes. “Charlie,” she said. “Did you show that to Chobie?”

He beamed with self-satisfaction. “Yes. Two days ago. I found him and I showed it to him.”

“And?”